PM lays foundation of Ram temple
ayodhya — Despite the coronavirus restricting a large crowd, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday broke ground on a long-awaited Ram temple.
Modi offered prayers to nine stone blocks with Ram inscribed on them and kept in a small pit amid chanting of Hindu religious hymns to symbolise the start of construction of the temple, which is expected to take 3 1/2 years to complete. The blocks will serve as the monument’s foundation stones.
Before the start of the ceremony, Modi prostrated before a small idol of the deity Ram that was kept in a makeshift temple.
“It’s an emotional and historic moment. Wait has been worthwhile,” said Lal Krishna Advani, a 92-year-old leader of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, who was at the forefront of the party’s temple campaign in the 1990s.
Organisers said the ceremony was set on an astrologically auspicious date for Hindus, but Wednesday also marked a year since the Parliament revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir. The symbolism was impossible to miss since Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had long pledged in its manifesto to strip Kashmir’s autonomy and to build a temple to Ram where the Mughal-era mosque once stood.
Modi said in a speech that the ceremony was a “historic occasion” for which Hindus waited for centuries.
He recalled that Mohandas Gandhi, India’s independence leader, fondly referred to “Ram Rajya (rule)” as an ideal state where values of justice and equality prevailed and even the weakest people could get justice.
He said the proposed temple will become a symbol of “modern India.”
The main roads of Ayodhya were barricaded and about 3,000 paramilitary soldiers guarded the city, where all shops and businesses were closed. Last week, a priest and 15 police officers at the temple site tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Had this function been held on normal days, all these roads would have been chock-a-block with people. Millions of people would have come to Ayodhya to witness this historic event,” temple priest Hari Mohan said.
Only 175 religious saints, priests and Hindu and Muslim community representatives were invited to the ceremony. But many, including senior leaders of Hindu nationalist organisations, weren’t wearing masks, or were wearing them improperly. Water from Indian rivers in
2,000 earthen pots sent by various Hindu temples and Sikh shrines was poured at the site.
The groundbreaking follows a ruling by India’s Supreme Court last November favouring the building of a Hindu temple on the disputed site.
Those invited to the groundbreaking ceremony included Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, and Iqbal Ansari, the main Muslim litigant in the Supreme Court case, who now supports building the temple in Ayodhya. —
Ram, a symbol of the best humanitarian qualities is in our deep consciousness. He is love, compassion and justice and he cannot appear in hatred Rahul Gandhi Congress leader
Every heart is illuminated; it is an emotional moment for the entire country... A long wait ends today Narendra Modi Prime Minister
Now, personal differences have been ended with the [court] verdict. The temple construction will bring development in Ayodhya Iqbal Ansari Main litigant of Babri Mosque
So many people sacrificed their lives, but they could not be present here physically. We struggled for 30 years and in the 30th year, we have now attained the joy of fulfilling our resolution Mohan Bhagwat RSS chief
The construction of the Ram temple shows the strong and decisive leadership of the prime minister. My heartiest congratulations to all Indians on this historic day Amit Shah Home Minister
A temple or a mosque can’t be a symbol of India. No place of worship can be a symbol of this country. How can a temple movement be equated with the country’s freedom? Asaduddin Owaisi AIMIM president